Tuesday, March 28, 2006

GMU -- Conservative Hotbed

As tempting as it is to pull for underdog George Mason in the NCAA tournament, keep in mind that GMU is a "magnet for right wing money".

Friday, March 24, 2006

Boo Hoo

I didn't post when Carolina lost in the tournament. What I said to my daughter at the time was "its OK as long as Duke doesn't win the national championship." Imagine my glee when Duke lost last night to LSU. Boo hoo. (Although I have to admit feeling bad for J.J. when I saw the footage of him trying not to cry -- but not too bad.)

Yesterday, I watched a fairly lame documentary on one of the greatest college games of all time, the 1985 championship game between Villanova and Georgetown. I remember watching it -- it was truly a great game -- but the documentary just didn't capture its greatness. Still, good to revisit that experience.

Sunday, March 19, 2006

V for Vendetta

Go. See. This. Movie.

Excellent. Very good action sci-fi with political message.

Too bad the very people who should see this won't.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Crooks Big and Small

I've long considered this administration a pack of criminals (and kudos to Sen. Feingold for introducing the censure resolution -- but see below for my favorite impeachable Bush moment). Now it appears they are petty criminals too -- Claude Allen, the black Republican who used to work for Jesse Helms (disconnect on so many levels) and then was a major domestic policy advisor to Bush was arrested for cheating Target by repeatedly doing fake refunds. Hilarious!

I have to say my favorite Bush violation of the constitution moment was when he toured the Bureau of Public Debt in Parkersburg, W.Va., in April 2005 and said about the $1.7 trillion in Treasury bonds that make up the trust fund that there is no trust fund. That's a violation of the 14th Amendment, specifically:

Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.


Bush could be impeached for that one -- let alone the illegal spying crap.

Mitt and Polygamy

Read this on the General's website regarding how Mitt Romney's ancestors reacted to the decision to ban polygamy in Utah:

Some Mormons, refusing to obey the Manifesto and fearful of the resulting federal crackdown on polygamists, pulled up stakes and moved to Mexico. Among them were Miles Romney, Mitt's great grandfather, and his three wives. The Romneys remained in Mexico until the Revolution, when Mitt's father, future Governor George, moved back to the States.


I grew up in Michigan when George Romney was governor and I never knew any of this. My best friend was Mormon when I was in grade school. It wasn't until much later that I began to realize how weird and cultish Mormons are.

Sunday, March 12, 2006

I am a Robot

Jerry posted a link to this "personality quiz." I am a robot:

You are 85% Rational, 14% Extroverted, 42% Brutal, and 28% Arrogant.

You are characterized by your rationality. In fact, this is really ALL you are characterized by. Like a cold, heartless machine, you are so logical and unemotional that you scarcely seem human. For instance, you are very humble and don't bother thinking of your own interests, you are very gentle and lack emotion, and you are also very introverted and introspective. You may have noticed that these traits are just as applicable to your laptop as they are to a human being. In short, your personality defect is that you don't really HAVE a personality. You are one of those annoying, super-logical people that never gets upset or flustered. Unless, of course, you short circuit. Or if someone throws a pie at you. Pies sure are delicious.

To put it less negatively:

1. You are more RATIONAL than intuitive.

2. You are more INTROVERTED than extroverted.

3. You are more GENTLE than brutal.

4. You are more HUMBLE than arrogant.

Say NO to DC Dems

I loved this Molly Ivins article and I agree with what she is saying:

I don’t know about you, but I have had it with the D.C. Democrats, had it with the DLC Democrats, had it with every calculating, equivocating, triangulating, straddling, hair-splitting son of a bitch up there, and that includes Hillary Rodham Clinton.

This is not a time for a candidate who will offend no one; it is time for a candidate who takes clear stands and kicks ass.

What happens now is not up to the has-beens in Washington who run this party. It is up to us. So let’s get off our butts and start building a progressive movement that can block the nomination of Hillary Clinton or any other candidate who supposedly has “all the money sewed up.”


Read the whole thing -- and ACT!

Monday, March 06, 2006

Surprised? Not Me

I love reading the headlines this morning about how surprised everyone is that Crash won best picture. I knew it would for reasons I outlined here. I didn't watch a lot of the show, but I hear than Jon Stewart was well received as host.

And I would like to add to what Stewart said ("Martin Scorcese, 0 Oscars, Three 6 Mafia, 1"). Also with no Oscars: Alfred Hitchcock and my personal favorite director, Stanely Kubrick.

Sunday, March 05, 2006

Joy in Royville

Well I can't say I expected it, but I am happy, happy, happy with UNC's win over Duke last night. These fantastic freshmen are incredible, and certainly Roy must be the top candidate for coach of the year for how he has molded them into winners.

I had the ESPN 1 broadcast on the TV but muted the sound and listened to Woody on the radio (unless you've lived in Chapel Hill, you have no idea what that means). It was strange because the TV was slightly delayed from the radio so Woody would call the basket before we saw it on TV. Weird. Also weird was the camera angle on ESPN 2 -- from behind the basket. I couldn't watch it.

I'll admit to taunting JJ last night after the game was over -- so sorry we beat you on senior night! He came into the bookstore I work at a few weeks ago -- he was quite handsome and very polite.

Now on to the ACC tournament (and good luck to the UNC women today).

Saturday, March 04, 2006

Public TV

The local public TV station is fundraising (most of them are this time of year) and this morning I heard one pathetic on-air "talent" say: "There are many good reasons to pledge and not many bad ones."